Afia Sadiki (Dr. Aafia Siddiqui) is a Pakistani-American scientist arrested in Afghanistan in 2008. John Kiriakou says he covered her arrest as a terrorism consultant for ABC News — the first story he covered in that role — when she was described as the most dangerous terrorist captured since Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.[1]
The shooting claim
At the time, Sadiki was said to have shot at two FBI agents attempting to debrief her, and was shot twice in the stomach and nearly killed in return; she was convicted and sentenced to 86 years in prison. Kiriakou says that as of 2025, evidence has emerged indicating she never fired at any FBI agent and never had a gun — that one agent had set his own gun down, she picked it up, and a soldier shot her.[1]
The bullet-hole photo
Prosecutors introduced at trial a photograph of the interrogation room showing bullet holes in the wall, presented as proof she had fired at the agents. Kiriakou says Sadiki’s attorneys have since found a photograph of the same room, with the same bullet holes, taken days before her arrest.[2]
The missing child
Sadiki has said the CIA took her three children at the time of her arrest. Per Kiriakou, two were eventually located and returned to her sister; the third, who would now be 18 years old, has never been found, and Sadiki has said she was told he was dropped and killed en route to an orphanage.[3]